Blyk is dead. Long live Blyk!

An interesting piece of news came up in the FT today.

Apparently Blyk has changed tack and done a deal with Voda in Holland, possibly admitting that it is coming to the end of the MVNO road.

Much is made of how, using an existing operator’s infrastructure, it would be possible to scale the advertising model effectively to Voda’s clientelle. Mention is also made of absorbing Blyk’s UK customers into Orange, and maybe using the Blyk model as a “Blueprint”, a plug and play advertising solution for MNOs.

Antti Öhrling goes into more detail in an interview with our chum Jonathan McDonald on his blog.

It must be said, although I understand why this is attractive as a business model for MNOs struggling with plunging display ad revenues, I’m not entirely clear how the model would work for the punter.

The whole point of Blyk was the gloriously detailed consumer information provided as a trade-off for free calls and texts. The detail allowed for that “frickin’ sweet” targeting, so actually giving the kids what they wanted, rather than generalised tat.

Unless the MNOs have decided to offer the same free/heavily subsidised service, why would a punter give up all that juicy info? And if they’re not willing to give it up, isn’t the Blyk model just another untargeted messaging ad service? AKA Spam?

Well, I hope Voda go balls-out to use the full Blyk model. A small but successful trial by a company called GetJam in Brighton has shown that young punters love a bit of bribery, and will sell their soul to whatever brand is buying for a few quid, even if it means downloading a Java app.

If not, it’s a sad day for mobile permission-based ads, and permission advertising generally. Blyk is a brave idea, that has had some stunning results and sweet case studies. As a Blueprint, it could rule the world or run the risk of being watered down to irrelevance.